life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Miracles”
doxology and dreams in the dark
When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
– Job 30:26
Smack dab in the middle of the fight
While I waited for right
my day turned to night
I thought I was fine
the good I would find
then early one morning I found I was blind
I lay on the ground
this dark hell I found
fluttering wings the only sound
I drank this dark brew
no way out but through
this darkness just grew and grew
Overtaking me, Helpless I turned
My hope was all burned
I could not choose what I thought I had earned
I lay in Your hand
in Your arc I did land
trusting the truth I had already found
Watching life pass
going ever so fast
oh how long will this dark, dark night last?
In spite of the fear
I am still here
I give thanks even through tears
I trust in Your plan
My life is just sand
I am a follower and not a just fan
and if I should die
The truth does not lie
The sun will still be here when I say goodbye
I trust in the way
I open and say
Come open the door today
So light come and hold me
Love come, grow boldly
Till every bush, and bud, flames holy
🌙
AL
do or do not….there is no try – Yoda
I want to be the song, a poem
I don’t want to play the record
Perch behind the lens
Hold the pen.
I want to be the song
Live the photo
Experience the novel.
Enough interpreting my existence.
Enough searching for the symbol, the reflection, the meaning.
I am resonant, alive, pulsing
One.
Treble and bass.
Light and shadows.
Beginnings and endings.
All of it.
I want to be the song.
Beating, polyrhythmic, harmonious.
The lyrics my prayers.
I want to live the photo.
Still, present, vibrant.
The image my essence.
I want to experience the novel.
Aching, poignant, truth.
The plot my story.
I want to be alive.
Color, beauty, heart-break.
Engaged, awake, heart-felt.
In awe.
Longing.
Loving.
💞
Spread the Love
Eloiza Jorge
💞
click on the photo below to go to Eloiza’s blog Deepening Wisdom
https://deepeningwisdom.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/i-want-to-be-alive/img_1833/
There comes a time when nothing is meaningful except surrendering to Love. Do It!
💞
– Rumi
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions.
To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease
into the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
Everything is Waiting for You
…
EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU by David Whyte
Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
Pardon me while I hug the moon.
Forgive me while I dance with the ocean.
Give me a minute while I laugh with the stars.
Hold your horses while I sing to the angels.
Patience, my old friend, while I make love to the world.
Get some rest while I fly the skies with the eagles.
Count some sheep while I paint a masterpiece with Mother Nature.
Then…
Come lay down beside me and hold me.
caress my skin with lovers hands.
whisper secrets my soul longs to hear.
sing to me softly.
kiss me like the butterflies.
while I love you forever
and ever,
we fall asleep together
every night,
and I wake to see the face I love every morning.
Sweet dreams, my love.
good night.
🌙
AL
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
yes, please, beat again
Grace
Nothing I have ever done or will ever do
can separate me from
or bring me into the heart of the Beloved.
Oh, I can distract myself from the longing
that whispers day and night for that sacred union,
and some days I am too tired to notice
that what I ache for is and always has been here:
. . . . right here in and at my fingertips,
in the way the breeze lifts my hair,
the way the earth pulls me to her,
the way shared laughter makes my sides ache.
Nothing I have done or will ever do
can make me worthy or unworthy
of being touched by the Lover’s hand and heart,
of being the Lover’s hand and heart in the world.
Grace – the way Infinite Love
gives Himself to us in every moment,
the way God unfurls Her tender mercy in our hearts-
is a constant invitation to say with the fullness of our being:
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
❤️
~Oriah Mountain Dreamer
there is terrible beauty in every human heart
tell me a story that will live with me forever
love always shares grace always wins
you can’t miss if you show up
pay attention…
the message is always revealed at the appointed intersection
letting go brings the right miracle
at the right time the song playlist repeats
crazy love flows into mystic waters slowly drips the sweetest tupelo honey
deep calling to deep
honor chooses to say yes to the best invitations
making the call brings me the messages I need to build the new bridge from the friend bench of this manna-filled moment
there is always more than enough to share
gratitude buckets fill and overflow
removing scales from blurry, tearful, kaleidoscope eyes
as perfect peace falls into rightful place
color shards blooming into new masterpieces of never before seen glory
diamonds dance on the water
flaming beauty evolves, drives me to my knees,
shedding shoes, and fear,
as we talk
I lift my face to the sun and free soar
full wing, open soul, with the gulls,
who always fly in trust, never a shadow of doubt, that they are loved to the sky
right here, and in every tick of time,
in, and in between, every click of the second hand,
around the bend of eternity and back again
🌀
AL 1/30/16
in gratitude and honor for connecting with Liz on this beautiful morning of sun, warm and snow drifts
photo above by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
🌃
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
yesterday
yesterday I was born a leaf
a small fragile tender wisp
trembling as I hung on the vine
yesterday I was a gust of air
short lived, but not insignificant
full of bone rattling cold and hat disturbing bravado
yesterday I was a large, slow, snow flake
plopping down like a wet goose feather
making the world a magical place
yesterday I was a world made of glass
lying shattered on the floor
hoping to be recycled into a new and useful object
yesterday I was various people
a student, a host, a friend, a lover
feeling my way into the next moment hoping to find a way home
yesterday I stood tall as a tree
shaking, hurting, yet proud, with stubborn certainly
accepting what winter brings, gently weeping, waiting for spring
❄️
AL
power
If you ever doubt the power of language, listen more closely. Witness the magic the first time someone whispers “i love you.” Watch a woman put on head phones, close her eyes, and have her life changed by a lyric. See a bad moment flipped upside down by a well timed joke. Words propel us, empower us, make us human and more than human. We constantly struggle to say what we mean and mean what we say. To “wrestle with words and meanings.” that’s what t.s. eliot calls it. But as we whisper and shout, stutter and spin, we create order out of the chaos around us. We are built of words, and we live by them, too.
💌
-Hallmark
fall down 7 times, get up 8
There is a path we all walk in life. All the places we go when the path gets too rocky and exhausting and brutal and beautiful are dead-end detours. If you take these detours you are not bad, but you are wasting your time and energy.
The path looks like this:
Come back to the path.
There’s no other way.
You will never find your perfect life “balance” on the path for the same reason you will never find a unicorn on the path – because these things don’t exist. Forget unicorns and balance. If you were perfectly balanced, you’d never have to take anyone’s hand to steady yourself, and that would be a tragedy.
There is no solid ground on the path — so don’t hold your breath till you find it. Breathe deeply and keep moving forward awkwardly. You can make it down the whole path imbalanced and flailing. When you fall, give thanks for the opportunity to rest. While you’re down, send love to every other path walker who’s down with you at that moment.
Then get back up.
Or crawl. Crawling is encouraged and respected. Path running is fine, but crawling is much better. Crawlers travel with their eyes close to the ground — so they never miss an inch of the beautiful, rocky path. Crawlers get less glory but learn the most about the path’s terrain.
And know your fellow travelers are both your teachers and students. Your relationships with them will be the hardest part of path walking. To avoid humbling oneself into the role of student and having the courage to position oneself into the role of teacher — many try to walk the path alone.
But the path was not designed for solo treks.
The path was designed to teach Love. Whenever you introduce your true self to a fellow path traveler and listen and speak and learn and stay with her for a while – that is called Love. Walking with and staying with messy fellow path travelers for any length of time is Love. Love is the most brutal and beautiful part of path traveling. Participate. Learn from and teach every path traveler you encounter. Exchanging love with fellow path travelers is how we gather the wisdom and strength we’ll need to overcome the next obstacle on our path.
Note: You do not teach by teaching — you teach by loving. Be humble and courageous.
You always have enough strength.
And courage and wisdom. You always have exactly what you need for your daily trek. Sometimes you won’t believe this, because you will encounter stretches of the path that are treacherous and terrifying, but if you give up in the middle of those stretches — if you sit down permanently in them — then you have to live there. Don’t live in the dark, scary parts. Trust and keep moving. There will be a clearing soon and you will feel the warm sun again.
The One who created your path is outside of time, so your life is an epic movie that has already been scripted. So don’t plan or worry — your job is to trust your path and participate fully and notice as much as you possibly can and keep on moving.
But don’t become proud or ashamed.
Don’t become proud that you are further along than many travelers or ashamed that you are far behind others. Your position on the path relative to other travelers has nothing to do with your strength or stamina or wisdom or cunning. We are all in different places because we all have different entry points to the path.
Where you are and where everyone else is along the path is none of your concern or business.
Let that go.
You are exactly where you are supposed to be, always, and so is everyone else. The portion of the path you wake up to today was written for you.
Everyone is exactly where he or she is supposed to be. You are not your own or anyone else’s path-planner. You are just a traveler. You just keep moving. Trust the Path. Follow in the footsteps of a billion other mighty travelers who have walked and run and crawled the path before you.
Fear not. And carry on, warrior.
🛤
you’re on by Glennon Doyle Melton
on Donald Miller StoryLine Blog http://storylineblog.com/2016/01/26/make-the-most-of-the-path-youre-on/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Donald%20Miller&utm_content=Make%20the%20Most%20of%20the%20Path%20You’re%20On
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
everyday hero
Quote of the Day: Virtue
Next to the seven deadly sins, the seven cardinal virtues are apt to look pale and unenterprising, but appearances are notoriously untrustworthy.
Prudence and temperance, taken separately, may not be apt to get you to your feet cheering, but when they go together, as they almost always do, that’s a different matter. The chain smoker or the junkie, for instance, who exemplifies both by managing to kick the habit, can very well have you throwing your hat in the air, especially if it happens to be somebody whom for personal reasons you’d like to have around a few years longer. And the courage involved isn’t likely to leave you cold either. Often it’s the habit kicker’s variety that seems the most courageous.
If you think of justice as sitting blindfolded with a scale in her hand, you may have to stifle a yawn, but if you think of a black judge acquitting a white racist of a false murder charge, it can give you gooseflesh.
The faith of a child taking your hand in the night is as moving as the faith of Mother Teresa among the untouchables, or Bernadette facing the skeptics at Lourdes, or Abraham, age seventy-five, packing up his bags for the Promised Land. And hope is the glimmer on the horizon that keeps faith plugging forward, of course, the wings that keep it more or less in the air.
Maybe it’s only love that turns things around and makes the seven deadly sins be the ones to look pale and unenterprising for a change. Greed, gluttony, lust, envy, and pride are no more than sad efforts to fill the empty place where love belongs, and anger and sloth just two things that may happen when you find that not even all seven of them at their deadliest ever can.
⚜
~ Frederick Bruechner originally published in Whistling in the Dark and later in Beyond Words
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
break away
We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.
🕊
-Kurt Vonnegut
how little I understand
about life
how small is my vision
how tiny my wings
my experience negligible
my brain so under developed
my travels so limited
even as I attempt to smash the box of my learning
as I fight to open to all good things
as the mystery,
the dream,
gets bigger
my desire to see,
touch,
taste,
handle,
hear,
experience
burns me to the ground
carries me to the sky
fills me with longing
empties me of myself
allows me to be a part of the whole miracle producing she-bang
calls me to be courageous-
a brilliant dancer, even
in spite of my fear,
my limiting inheritance
my illusion of having two left feet
stop thinking so much
just be
just dance
just fly
🕊
AL
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.
🎪
― Jiddu Krishnamurtio
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
good stuff
Beloved,
you make the water of my life into wine,
my ordinary into your holy.
You request miracles of me
the moment before I know I’m ready.
What was for purification of uncleanness
you make into celebration of beauty.
You change my despair to gratitude
in secret, my dark certainty to wonder.
You make this life into a wedding feast,
my faithful marriage to the Holy One.
Always you turn piety into a party.
And always the best is yet to come.
This wine is not for discussion.
It’s to drink. It’s good. It’s really good.
Let’s dance.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
life: acoustic & amplified 